Scottish Gaelic returns to City Lit this year with new courses starting this September
Fàilte gu saoghal na Gàidhlig: Welcome to the world of Scottish Gaelic
Maybe you've seen Gaelic on a road sign in the Highlands. Maybe you've heard it sung by Runrig or Capercaillie or heard Gaelic commentary during the recent Commonwealth Games coverage on BBC Alba. Maybe there's a Gaelic speaker somewhere in your family tree. Whatever brought you here, you're in good company: more people are learning Gaelic now than at any point in living memory, which is surprising given the major political and social struggles the language has faced over centuries. Before we get into the dark side of Gaelic history, and the light at the end of the tunnel, it might be useful to know a little bit more about where Gaelic sits in the Celtic family tree.
What is Scottish Gaelic?
Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is a Celtic language. It's spoken mainly in Scotland, with a long-established community in Nova Scotia, Canada.
The Celtic languages divide into two groups, sometimes nicknamed the P team and the Q team:
- P-Celtic: Welsh, Cornish, Breton
- Q-Celtic: Scottish Gaelic, Irish (Gaeilge), Manx
Why P and Q?
The split comes down to a sound. Where one group uses a p sound, the other uses a k or hard c sound. Once you know this, you start spotting family resemblances everywhere.
Take place names. Kintyre in Scotland and Pentir in Wales both mean "head of the land/headland". Ceann is Gaelic for "head". Pen is the Welsh equivalent.
Or take surnames. Mac means "son of" in Gaelic, as in MacDonald. In Welsh, the same idea is mab or ap, which is where the surname Powell (ap Hywel) comes from.
Similar roots, but two branches of one very old family tree.
A short history: three turning points for Scottish Gaelic
Gaelic was once spoken across much of Scotland. Three historical shifts changed that.
- After the Battle of Culloden (1746), which ended the last Jacobite rising, the government moved to suppress various elements of Highland culture, inevitably impacting the language.
- The Highland Clearances (roughly 1750–1860) during which landowners cleared communities off the land to make way for sheep farming. Gaels were displaced far and wide to coasts and cities, and some emigrated to places like Nova Scotia or New Zealand. When a community is scattered, its language is also scattered.
- The Education Act (Scotland) 1872 made schooling mandatory, but in English only. Gaelic had no place in the classroom. In some schools, a child caught speaking Gaelic was shamed and made to wear a wooden stick around their neck, the maide-crochaidh.
That last one was perhaps the hardest to overcome. Children learned that their home language was something to be ashamed of. Many grew up and chose not to pass it on, believing they were doing their children a favour. A very different view exists in today’s society, given the myriad benefits of bilingual education.
Gaelic today: Reasons to be Sona/Cheerful!
Despite this challenging history, Scotland's Census 2022 recorded the first rise in Gaelic speaker numbers since 1971:
- 69,701 people can speak Gaelic, which is more than enough enough to fill Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh!
- 130,161 people have some Gaelic skills, up from around 87,000 in 2011
- Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide have taken up Gaelic on Duolingo, so the true global figure is likely higher still.
Beyond the numbers, Gaelic is visible in a way it hasn't been for generations. Scotland has its own Gaelic television channel, BBC Alba. Gaelic-medium schools are in huge demand, opening well beyond the Highlands, in Glasgow, Edinburgh and elsewhere. There are Gaelic apps, Gaelic games, Gaelic YouTubers. Not to mention the huge impact of series like Outlander.
Gaelic has survived a great deal. It's here to stay. Every new learner of the language is contributing to a more positive future for Gaelic, helping to break the centuries-old cycle of language decline.
But is Gaelic a "useful" language?
As an educator and language lover, I have been asked hundreds of times, ‘why bother with Gaelic? Why not learn a more useful language, such as X?’
Dr Rosina Lippi-Green calls it a linguistic fact of life that all languages, and all varieties of any language, are equal (Lippi-Green, 2012, pp. 8–9). No language is better than another. It's tempting to assume that a language with more speakers must offer more, but that confuses reach with value.
A language is a window into another culture. It's a lens that shows you the world from a different perspective.
By learning Gaelic, you access so many rich experiences:
- The warmth of a Scottish island welcome. An offer of a cup of tea is never lom (bare). It arrives flanked by plenty of fresh home baking!
- A centuries-old poetic and musical tradition, passed on by voice rather than textbooks, from dramatic ballads to puirt à beul, the fast mouth music that is literally breathtaking to sing.
- A remarkable vocabulary for the natural world. Gaelic has words for the sound of a whale song (chuisil-ì chuisil-ò) and for a badag chruaidh, a fragment of rainbow hanging in the sky, sometimes a warning of stormy weather ahead. You may have seen one a hundred times. Who knew the Gaels had a name for it?
There are practical reasons too. Bilingualism is good for the brain. Employers in Scotland increasingly need Gaelic speakers. More families are choosing to raise their children with the language. And it makes a rather good gossip language on a crowded train!
I can happily share my own experience of the usefulness of the language. It is a community like no other. I've come across Gaelic speakers in Boston, Buenos Aires and Brisbane, all of them willing to connect, all of them ready to extend a warm, friendly fàilte. I could give you all the top tips from a local on the best places to go in Buenos Aires – but they were given to me in Gaelic from a Porteño Gaelic speaker!
The language has taken me to a great many places. It's been a huge part of my personal and professional life, from friends and neighbours, to work in broadcasting and music.
It has been, in fact, a most useful language.
Three ways Gaelic sees the world differently
As Wittgenstein put it, the limits of my language mean the limits of my world. Learning a new language removes those limits. Here are three places where Gaelic opens new, exciting pathways for the brain:
- The verb comes first
Gaelic has a very different word order to English. I like to joke that it's a "Yoda" language. "I am happy" becomes "Is me happy" = Tha mi sona.
Once you accept that the verb leads, a great deal of the language falls into place.
- You never actually own anything
This is my favourite. In Gaelic, you don't possess things. Things are simply at you, on you, or in you.
Tha taigh agam: "Is house at me" = I have a house
An interesting philosophy, when one considers home ownership!
- There's no word for "yes" or "no"
Gaelic has neither. Instead, you answer using a positive or negative form of the verb in the question.
An deach thu a-mach an-raoir? Did you go out last night?
Chaidh! Went! (I did)
We hear the echo of this in general Scottish speech all the time. Did you go out last night? I did! Scottish Gaelic has quietly influenced Scottish English over many centuries.
Càite an tòisich mi? Where do I begin?
If you'd like to explore the rich Gaelic world, City Lit runs Scottish Gaelic courses for beginners and beyond, in person in Covent Garden. Classes are small, conversation-led, and built around empowering you to share your new-found way of seeing the world. There are taster sessions too, if you'd like to try before you commit.
You can also browse our wider range of Celtic language courses.
Tapadh leat, literally "thanks with you". Thank you for reading this short introduction to Scottish Gaelic. I hope to share the language with you soon.
Ready to start learning Scottish Gaelic?
Explore City Lit’s Scottish Gaelic courses and discover a new language, culture and way of seeing the world.
